Description
Book SynopsisBibliophobia is a book about material books, how they are cared for, and how they are damaged, throughout the 5000-year history of writing from Sumeria to the smartphone. Its starting point is the contemporary idea of ''the death of the book'' implied by the replacement of physical books by digital media, with accompanying twenty-first-century experiences of paranoia and literary apocalypse. It traces a twin fear of omniscience and oblivion back to the origins of writing in ancient Babylon and Egypt, then forwards to the age of Google. It uncovers bibliophobia from the first Chinese emperor to Nazi Germany, alongside parallel stories of bibliomania and bibliolatry in world religions and literatures. Books imply cognitive content embodied in physical form, in which the body cooperates with the brain. At its heart this relationship of body and mind, or letter and spirit, always retains a mystery. Religions are founded on holy books, which are also sites of transgression, so that writing
Trade ReviewAs a book historian, I felt dazzled...It is full of treasures and sparkling insights...be prepared to be led through a rich gallery of intriguing scenarios at a cracking pace. I advise taking a deep breath before diving in. * Martyn Lyons, Modern Philology *
Richly illustrated with textual forms, material objects and art works, this book's inspiration remains staunchly within the power that books always (and continue to) have amid the emotional, spiritual, bodily and imaginative lives of readers. * David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews *
It is full of treasures and sparkling insights...Be prepared to be led through a rich gallery of intriguing scenarios at a cracking pace. * Martyn Lyons, University of New South Wales, Modern Philology *
Table of ContentsPreface Note on Texts I. DEATH OF THE BOOK 1: Is there a future for the book? 2: The library as computer 3: The message of Ashurbanipal from antiquity 4: Living in the Tower of Babel II. BOOKS AND VIOLENCE 5: The book-fires of 1933 6: The making and unmaking of libraries 7: Incombustible heresy in the age of Luther 8: The bondage of the book III. SACRED TEXT 9: The mystery of Arabic script 10: The unnameable Hebrew God 11: How the alphabet came to Greece from Africa 12: The characters of Chinese IV. THE CULT OF THE BOOK 13: Words and images 14: Kissing the book 15: Books under the razor 16: Shakespeare and bibliofetishism V. THE BODY AND THE BOOK 17: The book incarnate 18: The hand in the history of the book 19: Written on the flesh 20: Book burial VI. GHOST IN THE BOOK 21: The book after the French Revolution 22: The smartphone inside our heads 23: Heresy and modernity 24: Glyph Notes Bibliography
